Canadian press remains defenceless

Share

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) is disappointed that the House of Commons failed to pass Bill S-231, the Journalistic Source Protection Act, before rising for summer recess. By failing to pass the bill now the House has missed a crucial chance to take a stand for press freedom, and to extend badly-needed protections to confidential sources. Canada is one of the only industrialized countries in the world that lacks legislation for the protection of journalists' sources. Given the possibility that the government will prorogue Parliament before the fall session begins, the bill faces the prospect of dying while awaiting passage in the House of Commons.

"We're disappointed that Members of Parliament were unable to take this simple step to protect press freedom in Canada," says Tom Henheffer, Executive Director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. "Bill S-231 would be the beginning of full legal recognition for the role of journalists in serving the public and protecting democracy. Instead journalists and their sources will remain vulnerable to inconsistent or unfair treatment by the courts. Its swift passage needs to be a priority when MPs return in the fall."

Bill S-231 was unanimously adopted by the Senate on third reading in April. The private member's bill was authored by Conservative Senator Claude Carignan, former Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Henheffer appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Safety on June 19, 2017, to argue for the importance of the bill.

CJFE led the fight for the passage of Bill S-231 since its introduction in November 2016. On February 25, 2017 CJFE led a coalition of civil society, media and labour organizations in five locations across the country to rally for government action on freedom of the press. A core demand of those protests included the passage of S-231. Thousands more from around the world joined in on social media to call for greater protections for press freedom. Executive Director Tom Henheffer co-authored an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen in February making the case for the bill's importance.

When Canada fell four spots to 22nd in Reporters Without Border World Press Freedom Index, CJFE hit television networks and radio stations across the country, decrying the decline in media freedom and highlighting the importance of the bill before millions of Canadians. CJFE mobilized a global coalition of press freedom organizations on World Press Freedom Day, May 3, to send a joint letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling on his government to support the bill, and launched a letter-writing campaign involving hundreds of Canadians. CJFE also traveled to Ottawa to directly lobby Parliamentarians and senior policy-makers to support the bill.

This fight is at a standstill, but it's not over. CJFE will continue to fight to ensure journalists and their sources are given the protections they need to do their job, starting with getting this bill passed.

Bill S-231 amend the Canada Evidence Act to protect the confidentiality of journalistic sources. It would allow journalists to refuse disclosure for information or documents that identify or are likely to identify a journalistic source. This condition applies in all cases unless the information or document cannot be obtained by any other reasonable means and the public interest (for example, an exigent security situation) outweighs the public interest in preserving the confidentiality of the journalistic source. The bill also reverses the burden of proof for demonstrating the public interest need for disclosure, removing the onus from the journalist to defend their sources and transferring it to the requesting party who must prove the need.

The bill also amends provisions of the Criminal Code, so that only a judge of a superior court could issue a search warrant against a journalist. This would ensure that justices of the peace, who approved the surveillance of journalists in Quebec, would not be allowed to issue such warrants. It also allows a judge to consult a special advocate who would be responsible for defending the interests of freedom of the press before the court.

Responsible reliance on confidential sources is a recognized practice by journalists in providing information to society when reliance on attributable sources of information is not possible. In recent years, it has been increasingly recognized in judicial rulings and by public office holders.

Recent events in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada demonstrate how journalists are vulnerable to often inconsistent or unfair treatment by the courts. This includes the issuance of search warrants and production orders which could threaten their sources. CJFE, along with Reporters Without Border and the Committee to Protect Journalist, has been granted intervenor status at the Chamberland Commission, which is conducting an investigation into police practices in Quebec. This follows revelations that police departments in Quebec and Montreal had spied on journalists' phone records in an attempt to identify their confidential sources. Several journalists have testified that new sources are more reluctant to come forward since spying revelations were made public in November, 2016.

Internet users from across the globe have come together to create a crowdsourced vision for free expression online. Over 300,000 people from 155 countries worldwide helped shape our roadmap for a Digital Future that includes us all.

Free Expression & the Law:

More from Free Expression & the Law

In its report, the Center examines Bahrain's laws and legislation restricting the freedom of press work and shows the extent of its non-conformity with the international treaties, covenants and agreements. The report also documents violations of media workers since the popular protests beginning in 2011.

Laws passed since Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in May 2012 have dramatically strengthened the Russian authorities’ control over the flow of information online and offline. Much of this crackdown has been fuelled by Russia’s foreign policy, in particular its role in the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine and its armed intervention in Syria.

The report is based on the study of Bahraini laws and legislation related to the prosecution of civilians in military courts and shows the compatibility of Bahraini laws with the International Bill and international laws.

Civil society leaders in Egypt are urging the U.S. government to continue to condition and withhold military aid to Egypt until the Egyptian government makes meaningful reforms to its human rights practices.

BCHR analyses how the Bahraini judiciary uses the language of 'anti-terrorism' law to justify suppressing dissent. They also do a comparative study of the relevant local and international anti-terror legislation, and the extent to which Bahrain is in line with international law, international conventions and human rights treaties.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accuses the Eritrean government of a complete denial of reality in its first-ever report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and announces that it has submitted an alternative "shadow report" with a much darker assessment of the state of press freedom in Eritrea.

The general trend over the past 10 years has been bleak, with an overall negative trajectory for press freedom. The major turning point was the election of Xi Jinping as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012 and President of China in 2013.

In 2014, Cameroon enacted a broad anti-terror law as part of its effort to counter the extremist group Boko Haram, but authorities are using it to arrest and threaten local journalists who report on the militants or unrest in the country’s English-speaking regions.

Since 2013, law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh have illegally detained scores of opposition activists and held them in secret without producing them before courts, as the law requires. In most cases, those arrested remain in custody for weeks or months before being formally arrested or released. Others however are killed in so-called armed exchanges, and many remain “disappeared.”

This study examines the existence of criminal defamation and insult laws in the territory of the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In doing so, it offers a broad, comparative overview of the compliance of OSCE participating States’ legislation with international standards and best practices in the field of defamation law and freedom of expression.

READ AND DOWNLOADThis study analyses current trends in civil defamation and privacy cases in Hungary involving the media and summarises key challenges for freedom of the press and expression. Written by Hungarian media lawyer Bea Bodrogi, the study examined 250 court decisions related to civil protection of 'personality rights', an area in Hungarian law that includes defamation, privacy and personal image.

Freedom Forum has issued a review of Nepal's National Mass Communications Policy 2016. Among others, FF says the policy fails to articulate constitutional provisions relating to freedom of expression and mass communication. The policy, they said, also seems to promote centralided regulation, instead of self-regulation.

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 2016 maintained its control over all public affairs and punished those who challenged its monopoly on power. Authorities restricted basic rights, including freedom of speech, opinion, association, and assembly. All religious groups had to register with the government and operate under surveillance. Bloggers and activists faced daily police harassment and intimidation, and were subject to arbitrary house arrest, restricted movement, and physical assaults.

Malaysia's human rights situation continued to deteriorate in 2016, with human rights defenders, activists, political opposition figures, and journalists facing harassment and politically motivated prosecution. Those criticising the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak or commenting on the government's handling of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal have been particular targets.

Authorities continue to use sedition and criminal defamation laws to prosecute citizens who criticise government officials or oppose state policies. In a blow to free speech, the government in 2016 argued before the Supreme Court in favour of retaining criminal penalties for defamation. The court upheld the law.

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.

Get more stories like this

Sign up for our newsletters and get the most important free expression news delivered to your inbox.